Case Number 22849

ZEBRAMAN 2: ATTACK ON ZEBRA CITY

The Charge

Let's get ready to fight!

Opening Statement

There is no greater wildcard of a director working today than Takashi Miike
(Visitor Q). Not only does he make films at a breakneck pace, rarely is
his new work at all similar to his last. People who came to know him for his
extreme horror are in for a big surprise if they happen up The Happiness of
the Katakuris. Not nearly as big, though, as for people who took notice of
his more acclaimed recent work when they sit down with their families to watch
Imprint. Of course, no director worth his salt walks away without making
a superhero comedy, so now we have Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, the
sequel to his own 2004 oddity. So, it's time to start striping evil all over
again, but this time, he has a much bigger budget.

Facts of the Case

Fifteen years have passed since Shinichi Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa, Dead or
Alive 2) donned the Zebraman outfit and singlehandedly fought off the little
green aliens invading Tokyo. He was a hero, but a lot has changed since then.
Tokyo is now known as Zebra City. Lorded over by the diabolical Kozo Aihara
(Gadarukanaru Taka, Boiling Point) and his even more evil pop star
daughter, the Zebra Queen (Riisa Naka), they have made 5:00 Zebra Time, five
minutes twice a day when the police have free reign to shoot citizens at will.
Worse yet, just when Zebra City needs him the most, Zebraman has amnesia and no
longer has is powers. But Zebraman would never leave the citizens to die, so
with the help of a little girl, who may also be the last alien in Tokyo,
Zebraman regains his powers and flies off to stop the Zebra Queen before she can
make it Zebra Time all the time.

The Evidence

It's unnecessary to have seen the original Zebraman to understand the
sequel. There's a brief recap of the past events at the beginning of the film,
and neither movie makes much sense anyway, so it's just as well to not put too
much thought into it and enjoy the ride. As ridiculous as the original was,
Miike has upped the ante in every respect with Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra
City, delivering a sequel that is completely insane and even more enjoyable
than its predecessor.

Miike and writer Kankuro Kudo, who also penned the original, had a
significantly larger budget this go around and used it everywhere he could. The
fights are bigger, the effects are more explosive, and everything is flashier.
But even though the sequel was clearly far more expensive than the original,
Attack on Zebra City still retains the cheap esthetic of the "Giant
Robot" movies and television shows that have been forever popular in Japan.
With an eye pointed firmly on Ultraman and its imitators, Miike
simultaneously mimics and mocks the genre, with all the bad wire work, foam
rubber costumes, and flashing lights that come along with it. Miike and Kudo
went even farther than that, though. As they should, the non-super people in the
film revere Zebraman with unwavering respect and gratitude. In tribute to his
heroism, a television show is made about his exploits and this Zebraman
rendition is even more ridiculous than the reality. Plus, the actor who played
the hero on the show gets into the act, believing that he was somehow granted
some of Zebraman's powers to very good effect. There's a little bit of winking
at the audience, which usually bugs me, but they've so accurately made fun of
themselves at the same time and it's so good-natured that I have a hard time
really getting upset about that.

A lot of what makes it, though, is that Miike once again shows how solid a
director he is, regardless of genre. Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City is
the sort of thing that, done lazily, would still engender a following based
around people who love cheesy pop culture from Japan. This is no lazy
production, though. Miike combines the elements we expect from the genre with
his own vision to make a high style, very flashy film that is enjoyable from
start to finish. Even if you hate the music of the Zebra Queen, and that's
pretty easy to do, there's no doubt about the skill behind the camera for the
video. It looks like Lady Gaga entered an old Nine Inch Nails video, at Trent
Reznor for lunch, and stole his outfit. It's J-Pop perfection in all its
nauseating catchiness and insane lyrics. The movie is almost worth watching
strictly on these moments

Doing her own singing, Riisa Naka is absolutely fantastic as the Zebra
Queen. This is one of only a few pieces that she has been in, but she takes the
role by the throat and is a wonderfully evil counterpart to Zebraman. Aikawa
returns as the superhero and, as he was in the first film, he is very solid as
the wide-eyed doofus who is forced to fight. He's completely sympathetic, silly,
and perfect for the role. The A Clockwork Orange-clad governor is great
in his small, but pivotal role, and young Mei Nagano is surprising good as the
little girl with the alien power inside her. The performances aren't nuanced or
perfectly executed, but they're perfectly suited to the matter at hand: striping
evil and kicking aliens in the teeth.

I didn't realize that Funimation produced live-action DVDs, but here they
are with a very solid two-disc set for Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City.
The feature takes up the entirety of the first disc, and it's a fine piece of
work. For a standard definition disc, the transfer is excellent, with very good
detail and virtually perfect colors. The clarity accentuates the somewhat
cheap-looking quality of the film, though that cheapness is part of the fun, so
it's hard to complain about that. The Blu-ray should be even stronger, but this
SD transfer will more than suffice. The sound, too, is quite good. The nicely
mixed surround track is full and bright in all channels with good separation and
solid use of the rear speakers, especially during the music videos; for as bad
as the songs are, they really do sound great.

The extras populate the second disc and, while they aren't the broadest set
of extras imaginable, they are pretty good. The main extra is a feature length
making-of piece that eschews the usual self-congratulatory fluff for a detailed,
day-by-day account of the movie in production. At ninety minutes, it runs long
and feels long, but it's a perfect amount of time to hammer home just how
tedious filmmaking can be, even (or especially) for something with such schlocky
results. A second making-of shows some of the behind the scenes action for the
music video production. It's not nearly as detailed as the first one, but it's a
good little piece. Five interviews with cast and crew members and some trailers
round out the disc.

Closing Statement

This is far from the level of Takashi Miike's best films, but it isn't meant
to be anything more than simple giddy entertainment and, on that level, the
movie works out exceptionally well. Endearing, funny, and altogether senseless,
fans wondering when evil would be striped once again need wait no longer.
Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City is here for you, if you can handle the
cheese.